The EU Culture Programme grants € 200,000 to Sagenhaftes Island

"Sagenhaftes Island" has received a € 200,000 grant from the EU's
Culture programme. In the months before the Frankfurt Book Fair in
October, Sagenhaftes Island will stage an ambitious series of cultural
events focusing on Icelandic literature, as well as Icelandic art and
design. The grant will primarily support a programme dedicated to
promoting the Norse cultural heritage, with a focus on the Sagas of the
Icelanders and the Eddic poems. Other collaborators in this large-scale
project include the Literaturhaus Cologne in Germany and the
Literaturhaus Salzburg in Austria.

Invaluable support for a wide range of projects
One project supported by the grant is a collaboration between three
Icelandic performers and and three young German writers, themed around
the Sagas of the Icelanders and their modern reception. The group will
perform their material at the Reykjavík Arts Festival this spring, and
then go on to literature houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
during the lead-in to the Book Fair.

Another initiative to introduce the German-speaking world to the world
of the sagas and Eddas is headed by literature houses in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, who will give a series of presentations on the
subject, featuring numerous experts in the field. On June 8, the
literature houses will also celebrate the publication of a new anthology
of Icelandic poetry (published by Suhrkamp Verlag) by hosting a Day of
Icelandic Poetry. The programme will take place simultaneously at eleven
locations, featuring various poetry-themed happenings, and video clips,
made for the occasion by students at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts
and featuring poems from the anthology, will be made available online.
Finally, all guests of the literature houses on June 8 will receive the
new book as a gift.

The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt will host an exhibition by the artist
Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, which will intertwine Gabríela's work with
displays of original medieval manuscripts, reflecting Sagenhaftes
Island's declared goal of combining tradition and contemporary art.